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My fascination with the language of the subconscious began as a quest for deeper self-awareness—to answer fundamental questions like:
Why is that there?
Why don’t I feel normal?
Why do I always...?
Understanding oneself in the pursuit of personal growth can guide us through the three stages Socrates spoke of: Know Thyself, Be Thyself, Love Thyself - a journey that is no small feat but supported when we have a layer of clarity about the language of the subconscious—an area I've been studying since 2011.
What is the Language of the Subconscious?
The language of the subconscious is a mix of signs, symbols, imagery, and somatic expressions. It includes everything from goosebumps and gut feelings to using imagery to describe the felt sense to interpreting emotions and internal reactions.
Decoding this language can reveal entire chapters of context about ourselves. By bringing this context into conscious awareness, we can transform the burdensome, into clarity and presence.
An intro to the four primary forms of subconscious communication:
1. Symbols
Definition: Symbols convey ideas, emotions, or states that hold meaning beyond their literal form. They are often abstract and can mean different things to different people, depending on personal and cultural experiences. Colors, shapes, textures, and even scents fall under this category.
Characteristics: Unlike signs, symbols are open to interpretation and can carry rich, layered meanings. For instance, water in a dream could represent emotions, consciousness itself, the moon or purification, pending the context.
Example: A snake appearing in a dream could symbolise fear, but it could also symbolise transformation, or healing and medicine. A snake could also represent the 'shadow' self.
2. Signs
Definition: Signs are more straightforward indicators that carry specific, widely recognised meanings within a cultural or social context. They are direct and provide guidance or information.
Characteristics: Signs are immediate and less nuanced than symbols. In the subconscious, a sign might be a clear, direct message or alert.
Example: A red light means “stop” across many cultures. Subconsciously, feeling an immediate sense of resistance, toward a person or idea might be the mind’s “red light,” signaling you to pause or reconsider. It can also signal that a piece of you from a long forgotten past experience, may be surfacing now for you to resolve it and in doing so, the resistance disappears.
3. Imagery
Definition: Imagery involves mental pictures or visualisations, appearing in dreams, daydreams, or moments of focused relaxation, like meditation and mindfulness.
Characteristics: Imagery can be realistic or fantasty based, blending memory and imagination to represent emotions or potential experiences.
Example: Before giving a speech, someone might visualise standing on a stage to prepare themselves emotionally. These mental images rehearse the experience in an effort to align mind and body.
4. Somatic Expressions
Definition: Somatic expressions are physical sensations and bodily responses tied to mental or emotional states. The term “somatic” comes from the Greek soma, meaning “body.” These signals reflect the body’s real-time response to subconscious thoughts and feelings.
Characteristics: Unlike mental interpretations, somatic experiences are felt directly. They include sensations like tightness, warmth, or tingling and are often referred to as “gut feelings” or “somatic markers.” Where they appear in the body give us a lot of insight and context. THe traits and characteristics of these sensations reveal even more rich context.
Example: Feeling butterflies in your stomach before an important meeting doesn’t represent a literal symbol but is the body’s response to stress or anticipation, being directed directly by the subconscious.
Mastering the language of the subconscious enables more effective changes as we progress through new phases of growth. We deepen our understanding of ourself, and thus navigate change far more easily.
What Am I Doing With This Just Now?
With my nervous system now reset to a healthy baseline, survival mode deactivated, and self-regulation well-practiced, I can better engage my subconscious in ways that better align who I Be and what I Do. I'm consistently moving through these 3 steps and refining as I go.
Step 1: Take Inventory The first step is assessing what’s currently residing in my subconscious and influencing my daily life (a topic for another blog post).
Step 2: Define What I Want to Keep or Change The next step is figuring out what I actually want in my subconscious. I cultivate a lot of this in a program I am now running for the public - Your True North. You'll find details of this program, here > under Curated Approach.
Step 3: Integrate New Patterns I am well into reprogramming my subconscious content in ways that more closely align with me, living my best life. This involves refining my understanding of symbols, signs, and somatic responses to facilitate lasting change.
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